Café featuring coffee packages created with the help of Suite 14 software components Studio and WebCenter, and cut with a Kongsberg V for Packaging digital finishing table, highlight a number of supply chain tools

Miamisburg, OH (USA) – Esko will offer a number of design and production tools for brand owners and package designers at PACK EXPO International, booth N-5160 November 2-5, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL. The booth, featuring a café theme, will showcase K-cup boxes designed, created, and cut with Esko tools. Visitors can brew their own coffee, picking their favorite box from an Esko-designed and created display. Esko tools allow brand owners to design and create better packaging, and participate more actively in the packaging supply chain. Esko Suite 14 will be featured along with four popular components: ArtiosCAD structural and Studio 3D graphic design tools, WebCenter collaborative tools, and Cape Pack palletization software. Meanwhile, a Kongsberg V for packaging finishing table, an exceptional tool for creating packaging prototypes, will be cutting the K-cup sample boxes. 

“Esko solutions, in one way or another, touch the majority of all packaging created in the world. We are proud that brand owners and designers who will visit us during PACK EXPO, consider our products vital to their packaging development,” explains Jon Giardina, Esko President, Americas. “We consider ourselves important partners to all of them, and are happy to welcome them and offer any assistance we can—along with a nice cup of coffee.” 

All forms of packaging demonstrated at PACK EXPO

The PACK EXPO show floor showcases state-of-the-art materials, machinery and methods for packaging and processing from more than 1,800 exhibiting companies. PACK EXPO draws brand owners seeking options for their entire operational line — from packaging, to processing, to integrated packaging-processing solutions. 

“Producing packaging is becoming more and more a global enterprise. Esko integrates brand management software, brand solutions and packaging solutions that allow brands to leverage the power of their supply chains,” explains Giardina. At the same time, Esko's packaging design software enables true packaging innovation. Brands can visualize early on in the design phase what a design will look like when it’s manufactured. The packaging design suite brings speed and ease to the product packaging design process. Esko can also help to accurately reproduce brand colors on the wide range of materials used in packaging.”

Suite 14 software portfolio offers new ways to develop packaging

Suite 14 is an update of the world’s most complete collection of preproduction software tools for packaging, signage and display production. It supports and manages the packaging and print processes for brand owners, retailers, designers, packaging manufacturers and print service providers. While the wide range of design, prepress and workflow applications will be on display, Esko will focus on a number of solutions for the design of packaging: 

Studio is a fast and easy way to turn ideas into beautiful 3D images for creative development or to impress a client. There is no more need to produce physical mock-ups all the time. Users have an accurate and technically correct package on the screen. While conventional mock-ups may be required, with Studio virtual mock-ups are faster and cheaper for initial design reviews. Visualizer adds the finishing touch, with its patented dynamic print visualization that shows a wide range of substrates, printing and finishing effects in real-time. 

The Studio Store Visualizer (developed by VTales graphics) allows brand owners to view and interact with packaging in a virtual retail environment. They can see their new designs on the shelf next to the competition, presenting the complete product launch in 3D, including retail-ready packaging, displays and other branded items. 

ArtiosCAD is the world’s most popular structural design software for packaging design. With dedicated tools specifically designed for packaging professionals for structural design, product development, virtual prototyping and manufacturing, ArtiosCAD increases productivity throughout a company. ArtiosCAD is ideal for all corrugated, folding carton and POP, POS, FSDU display designers.

Even in today’s digital world, the majority of packaging teams work with traditional methods of communication, such as phone, email and ftp. This way of working leaves little room for innovation and typically adds time to the process through lack of visibility into critical paths. It’s also very hard to track the project’s status within the many outsourced suppliers in the process. WebCenter connects all stakeholders in the process and brings clarity to this process with a centralized project management and communication system. 

Cape Pack is a modular suite of palletization software that helps determine the most efficient product size, case count, case size and pallet load. Companies around the world use Esko’s Cape Pack palletization software to create a sustainable packaging supply chain and reduce their carbon footprint. It does so by helping to design the optimum product size, evaluate alternative case sizes, maximize pallet loading (and improve space utilization). In doing so it reduces the number of trucks on the streets and cuts transportation costs.

Getting the color right

Color consistency is critical in brand recognition. Defining accurate brand and spot color standards is the first step in maintaining consistency. Meanwhile, demand for shorter packaging production runs for targeted campaigns and product variations are increasing. The packaging printer needs to meet these challenges for brand owners in a time and cost effective way. 

Equinox, recipient of both the 2014 FTA Technical Innovation Award and the 2014 PIA InterTech Technology Award, is Esko´s solution for the implementation of extended gamut printing. It allows brands to print faster with superb quality while lowering printing costs. It standardizes printing presses on any set of 5, 6 or 7 inks. With this, companies save on inks and plates for packaging, and printers save time as the press changeover workload between jobs is reduced to merely changing printing plates.

With PantoneLIVE, digital brand color live in a secure, centralized cloud ecosystem. Colors are accessible to brand owners, packaging designers, packaging converters—anyone and everyone in the supply chain, anywhere around the globe. The combination of Esko's Color Engine and PantoneLive ensures accurate and consistent color data throughout the packaging supply chain. It doesn’t matter if the brand color is specified in London, the packaging designer is in
Los Angeles, prepress is in Munich, and the converter is in Manila. Because the brand color lives in the cloud and everyone in the supply chain can access it.

Getting digital jobs finished

There are many times that cutting mock-ups can be complicated and time consuming. The Kongsberg digital finishing table can take structural designs and quickly create mock-ups with cuts, folds, perforations, and other finishing. Many brand owners and designers own a Kongsberg table in their own studios. Demonstrated for the first time at PACK EXPO is the Kongsberg V for packaging sample making, a digital cutting table that delivers value, durability, reliability, precision and ease of use—at an attractive investment point. The Kongsberg V will be finishing the pre-printed coffee boxes that will be used to hold the K-cup servings.

The Kongsberg V offers a broad selection of tools, providing quality results on a wide range of cutting, creasing, and plotting tasks. No matter what application, the Kongsberg V brings exceptional value. The Kongsberg V for packaging sample making is a cutting table configured for sample making, short run production of mockups and other packaging specific applications. 

“Esko has been a strong partner to brands and package designers. At PACK EXPO, our brand management solutions team is available to demonstrate how companies are creating more impactful—yet cost-efficient—packaging,” concludes Giardina.